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River of Life Community Church was officially registered on 19th
November 2002. The work was initiated after the Council and members
at Bethesda Frankel Estate Church had expressed interest in starting
a ministry at Sengkang. We thank Bethesda Frankel Estate Church for
graciously commending us as an autonomous church, for their prayers
and the partial financial support given to us to help us through the
first two years in our ministry in this locality.
With
God’s help, two cell groups were formed by John Lee in 2001. By July
2002, we had about 35 adults and children in the cells. We then
sensed the need to start our first Worship Service on 29th July
2002. By September 2002, the fortnightly Worship Services at John &
Kathleen Lee’s apartment were packed to capacity and the Sunday
school classes were held at the void deck. In October 2002, the Lord
led us to rent a terrace house along Punggol Road with the consent
from the owner of the house to hold our weekly Worship Services and
Sunday school classes.
Since relocating to the terrace house at Sengkang, our attendance
had risen from 40 to 97. Initially, we had 16 children but in 2003,
the Lord had blessed us with 35 children in the Kidz Church. During
that time, we had 61 baptized members of which 30 were transferred
members from BFEC. God is good. He brought more workers into our
church to help us.
In
Jun 2004, we rented a bungalow at Ponggol Twenty-Fourth Avenue.
Despite the distance, our weekly attendance rose to more than 100.
Two new ministries, the Youth Ministry and the PHD
(Prayer/Healing/Deliverance) Ministry, were then birthed at the end
of 2004. It was wonderful to see how the Holy Spirit was at work in
our midst: healing people and setting them free from bondages.
During the past 4 years, we made few mission trips to Myanmar,
Indonesia and East Timor, organized Christmas Party and National Day
Party for the Residents’ Committee in Compassvale (Sengkang) and
brought the joy of Christmas to the homes in the few blocks of flats
in Sengkang. These ‘seed ministries’ will grow and multiply as the
church grows numerically.
In
2004, the Lord had impressed upon our hearts to purchase our present
bungalow as our Mission Home and a base for River of Life Community
Church. Our faith had certainly been put to the test and praise God,
He cleared every obstacle for us and in 3 months, the full amount of
$1.8 million was raised. We are thankful to God and to our members
for the commitment of raising more than 90% of the Faith Building
Fund. Truly, ROLC Church Mission Home is an awesome testimony of
God’s faithfulness. A “Thanksgiving and Dedication Service” was held
on 1st May 2006 to bear testimony of God’s goodness and
faithfulness to ROLC Church.
Since settling into our new place, we are putting our resources into
consolidating our growth to be a Christ-centered and Holy Spirit
Community. Our vision is to reach out to our community with the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, bringing them to faith and obedience and
thereby fulfilling God’s purpose in our generation.
We
believe that God’s Work must be done in God’s Way. We need you to
uphold us in prayer for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to bring
to fruition what He has purposed us to do for Him.
Senior
Pastor John Lee
jkj1412@singnet.com.sg
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